Data Center Experts React to $80B Nuclear Push
What the current administration’s partnership with Westinghouse Electric Co., Brookfield Asset Management and Cameco Corp. means for the industry.
Several data center experts welcomed news this week that the Trump administration is investing at least $80 billion in a strategic partnership with Westinghouse Electric Co., Brookfield Asset Management and Cameco Corp. to build nuclear reactors across the U.S. to help meet the rising power demand driven by artificial intelligence. But they cautioned significant expansion of nuclear projects is still years away even with the federal government vowing to ease regulatory constraints and speed licensing reviews.
“It’s a great source of fuel. The industry would sign up for as much of it as it could get. It’s just a little way away,” Sean Farney, JLL’s vice president of Data Center Strategy, Americas, told Commercial Property Executive.
Pat Lynch, executive managing director, CBRE Data Center Solutions, said increasing nuclear power for data centers on a large scale is at least seven to eight years away and possibly as long as 10.
“I think the challenge we have is the regulatory side,” Lynch told CPE. “That is burdened with the time to delivery and the cost to delivery.”
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Todd Smith, Transwestern, chief technology officer, Technology Properties Group, agreed on timing.
“A lot of people (who) talk about nuclear (say it) will be a 10-year plan,” he said.
But stated he does “think (nuclear power) provides a good long-term solution.”
Despite concerns over timing, Farney called the deal with Westinghouse, Brookfield Asset Management and Cameco “brilliant.” He said he hopes more public-private partnerships will accelerate the production of nuclear energy to power more data centers at a faster rate.
Noting that AI is now part of industrial policy as well as national defense, Farney said providing nuclear energy is a high priority.
“The tech companies can build out this infrastructure and the government can help by funding it and reducing the regulatory burden. That’s good for the protection of America,” Farney said.
Farney said the federal government is also considering allowing the nuclear energy industry to tap into the U.S. stockpile of surplus plutonium for uses including powering data centers to meet the energy demands driven by AI.
“If this was another action that the government would take to accelerate the pace and delivery time of nuclear facilities, this could shave years off delivery of new facilities,” he said. “It seems like a very sustainable way to get a win-win.”
Federal government’s nuclear goals
The partnership announcement comes several months after President Donald Trump signed four executive orders in May aimed at reinvigorating the nuclear energy industry. The orders include plans to streamline regulation and nuclear reactor testing and deploy nuclear reactors for national security.
The goal is to accelerate deployment of nuclear technology and expand U.S. nuclear capacity from around 100 gigawatts today to 400 GW by 2050. On July 23, the White House released America’s AI Action Plan to boost innovation, build infrastructure and position the U.S. as a global leader in AI. Simplifying data center construction permits was part of the action plan.
While Brookfield did not provide timeframes or locations for developments, it is reportedly timed to meet Trump’s executive orders calling for 10 new large reactors to be under construction by 2030. The plan calls for AP1000 reactor units using Westinghouse technology to be constructed to generate reliable and secure power to help drive AI growth in America.
Each two-unit Westinghouse AP1000 project will create or sustain 45,000 manufacturing and engineering jobs in 43 states, and a national deployment will create more than 100,000 construction jobs, according to Brookfield. The program is meant to position the U.S. as one of the world’s nuclear energy powerhouses and increase exports of Westinghouse’s nuclear power generation technology globally.
The partnership contains profit-sharing mechanisms for all parties once certain thresholds are met. Details were not released.
Japan has agreed to invest $100 billion in the U.S. Westinghouse projects including AP1000 reactors and small modular reactors, reinforcing global data center investment trends linked to energy innovation. This might occur with the help of Japanese contractors like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toshiba Group and IHI, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Turning to natural gas in the interim
Smith expressed some caution about the plan, noting there’s a “lot of moving pieces” on these kinds of big multibillion-dollar projects.
“I think where we are seeing a lot of real action is on the natural gas side. Real deals are being done. Real use cases are happening,” Smith said. “Right now, gas is mainstream and it’s center stage.”
He said the industry is seeing “enormous amounts of investment in gas in Texas and other parts of the country,” where data center operators can’t get grid power for at least five years so they turn to natural gas and may just stay with it.
Lynch also addressed the growing use of natural gas for data centers, at least in the interim, and concerns about transmission issues.
“I think we’ll continue to rely heavily on natural gas as the source for our power to support the industry, he said. “There’s a power capacity problem, but there’s also a transmission problem. We don’t always have the power where we need it…I don’t know if this announcement is addressing the transmission side. That’s another component of the problem that some people miss.”
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